The Summer of Lost Soles, Humor Book, Hudkins Publishing
The book Summer of Lost Soles by Hudkins Publishing follows a youth named Ricky and his friends through their preteen 1960s summer vacation mishaps. It seems Ricky has a somewhat known reputation for being unable to keep from destroying, losing, or misplacing every pair of shoes that are destined, rumored, indicated, or even placed upon his feet. He has a devious, scheming sister who lives to get him into trouble. His parents are at wit’s end to keep him in their shoes. His friends aren’t any help in helping Ricky preserve his footwear, be it through their pranks or everyday antics where stuff ultimately happens.
At the end of their ropes, Ricky’s parents' only request was for their son’s promise to have at least one pair of shoes ready and able to be worn to school at the end of what they knew would be a long, hot summer. Their demanded stipulations were that the shoes had to be more than a pair of shoelaces wrapped around his ankles. The shoes had to contain all the eyelets. They had to have an upper canvas casing that covered both feet completely. The soles had to be attached to the canvas as designed. The bottom of the feet could not be seen and exposed to the pavement below. Basically, the shoes had to be a normal, unabridged, wholly assembled, presentable pair of footwear. They did not have to be pristine, as some average wear and tear was expected. The satellite requirement of having just one pair of shoes by school time did not mean he was allowed to be barefoot the first or last half of summer.
Although they threatened to send him to school during winter storms in his bare feet, Ricky did not believe for a minute that would happen. Just in case it could happen, Ricky did commit himself to the promise to have one pair of shoes (perhaps more) capable of carrying him off to his first year of junior high school.